research

A large, active supervolcano near Naples, Italy, may be transitioning into a pre-eruption state, according to a new study. Called Campi Flegrei, this supervolcano has a colorful history, having produced a super-colossal eruption about 40,000 years ago. The location's most recent eruption was in 1538, though it was far less substantial in size. A new study has found that the supervolcano may be once again accumulating magma.

One of the keys to making space travel between planets more achievable is to make rockets more powerful and reusable. A rocket that can be reused makes space mission of all sorts cheaper. SpaceX has done a good job with this for its Falcon rockets and the Falcon Heavy that it plans to launch in 2020 with its first government payload aboard. While SpaceX and others are using current technology for their rocket engines, a Russian research group claims to have created a rocket engine that uses new tech.

NASA has announced the discovery of a massive meteorite impact crater hidden deep beneath the Greenland ice. The crater measures over 19 miles wide and 1,000ft deep, making it one of the top 25 largest impact craters on the planet. The discovery was made by a team of researchers led by the University of Copenhagen's Centre for GeoGenetics at the Natural History Museum of Denmark.

Massive amounts of data are generated by orbiting scientific platforms like the Hubble, and the ESA's Gaia satellite; so much data that it often takes years for researchers to pour through. An international team of astronomers were pouring through Gaia data recently and discovered a massive "ghost" galaxy hiding behind the shroud of the Milky Way's disc. The new galaxy has been named Antila 2 or Ant 2 and is said to be an extremely low-density galaxy.

A team of Chinese researchers has conducted an experiment that is nicknamed the "Chinese artificial sun" using the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) fusion device. The EAST device has been conducting a four-month-long experiment with the goal of seeing how hot the electron temperature inside the fusion device could be. The scientists were able to achieve an electron temperature in the core plasma of over 100 million degrees.

There are some mundane projects out there that aim to find an alternate way to produce electricity using things like solar power or wind. Then there is the new project that researchers Manu Mannoor and Sudeep Joshi from Stevens Institute of Technology devised that involves a 3D printed network on the cap of a living mushroom to generate electricity. The pair sees their creation as a symbiosis between the mushroom and cyanobacteria.

Researchers with the University of Pennsylvania have found a casual link between social media use, depression, and loneliness. The study looked at Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat, finding that the use of these apps resulted in a decrease in one's sense of wellbeing. This is said to be the first study that has found a casual link between social media use and depression/loneliness.

Any GPS user who has ventured into an area with lots of obstacles that prevent satellites from being seen by their navigation unit knows the woes of satellite-based navigation. Anytime the GPS device on your dash can't see the satellites, you lose your signal. Signal loss happens under heavy tree cover, in mountain canyons, and in cities with tall buildings.

In late October, a giant chunk of ice broke free from the Pine Island Glacier and formed an iceberg that has been named B-46 by the US National Ice Center. Earlier this week, NASA's Operation IceBridge took a flight over the iceberg, giving humans their first look at the floating ice.

A new study has found that primarily vegetarian diets, as well as diets containing seafood, may reduce the symptoms of hypertension-related heart disease. The beneficial effect is linked to increased levels of trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO), which was found to reduce heart thickening and heart failure markers in rats. Higher blood plasma TMAO levels are associated with seafood and vegetarian diets versus diets with high amounts of egg and red meat.

Researchers from the University of Massachusetts Amherst have created something that is a breakthrough in powering wearable electronics. The team has figured out a way to create a fabric alternative to batteries for wearable devices. The technique involves embroidering a charge-storing pattern onto any garment.

Popular insecticides called neonicotinoids are disrupting bumblebee life, according to a new study, causing big decreases in bee populations. Though the harm caused by this type of insecticide has been previously studied, researchers weren't sure how it was causing increased bee deaths. The new study sheds light on that, finding that neonicotinoids disrupt nest life and colony thermoregulation.